


Something Immortal

by acatenthusiast



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Inspired by Hades and Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:27:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21960928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acatenthusiast/pseuds/acatenthusiast
Summary: Chen is the god of the dead, ruler of Underworld. On the other hand, Minseok is a very mortal (and broke) man who works part time jobs full times.When Chen develops a crush on Minseok on first sight, he decides to sweep him off his feet. But it goes a bit differently than he anticipated.
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai, Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Minseok | Xiumin
Comments: 15
Kudos: 46





	1. I Fell For A Mortal

**Author's Note:**

> This is a modern take on the legendary Hades-Persephone au. (the actual canon one, not the dishwater version where Persephone is 'taken against her will')

Jongdae is Done™.

  
Just because he is the god of the dead, the ruler of the underworld (bla bla bla all that crap); does NOT necessarily mean he's a grumpy person. He likes to listen to music, sing and goof around a lot (preferably with his cute little brother). After all, he was YOUNG, unlike his dad, the previous ruler of the underworld, who was _both_ grumpy and old.

  
He was the second son from the third set of the children of his dad (don't ask) and recently he had been promoted to the position of the ruler of the underworld (along with his brothers of course)  
It sounds all high and mighty when worded like that. Well, spoiler alert: its _not_.

  
Everyone has a notion on how the god of the dead is like, thinking that its definitely an edgy dude with powers to evaporate others or something. Well guess what? Wrong info.

  
That's god of the _death_ , not dead. Being the god of the dead is like being an office clerk; you have to deal with all the paperworks while getting mistaken for someone else. Besides, god of the death is a fixed job from birth, compared to that, god of the dead is like a temporary gig.  
  
Anyway, Jongdae has been stumped with paperworks for his entire shift this week and he just can't get out of the office quickly enough. Ugh, this entire month has been horrible. There's been a rise on deaths, especially atheists this week (who knows why) and those idiots' paperworks needs twice the time than a believer since their notions of Afterlife is hella pesky. On top of that, Nini bailed on his duties _again_ to visit the mortal he's been crushing on.

Its Jongdae's turn to fetch him from that tiny little café upstairs (hehe, _upstairs_ , get it?) and Junmyeon's been looking extremely busy so Jongdae decides to just pop into the café and bring that idiot back by his ears.

He's full on expecting to see Nini making heart eyes at the mortal from a table near the display, but upon nearing the café, he finds the scenerio to be a bit different.

Nini is there all right, except he’s sitting on one of the stools in front of the pastry bar and chatting with someone who is _definitely_ not the abject of his affection (but still definitely a mortal). The window glass panes only reveals him, so unfortunately, Jongdae can't see the person Nini is chatting so animatedly with. Although he sees Nini behaving the same way he behaves around Jongdae, like the sweet and clingy baby he is.

Jongdae feels a pang of jealousy in his heart, he has always been Nini's favourite (with Junnie hyung being second) among all of their 90+ siblings (again, for the sake of your own sanity, don't ask). How could he just find a stranger to get cozy with like he does with his favourite hyung?

So Jongdae gets in the café to reprimand his brother for neglecting his duties and to maybe passive aggressively greet the stranger. At the sound of the bell attached to the top of the door, both of them looks at Jongdae's direction.

Now, don't get him wrong, Jongdae is used to all kinds of pretty faces, (I mean, it's pretty much default for gods and goddesses to be beautiful) but never has he _ever_ encountered someone so _so_ cuteand beautiful and hot and _just_. _so_. _hnnng_.

 _So this must be how Aphrodite felt when she met Adonis,_ Jongdae stares at him dazedly, _I did not know mortals could look this good-_

_Oh shit he's staring at me why is he staring at me did he ask me something shit shit sHIT-_

_"_ I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that?" Jongdae tries to keep his voice steady, and fails. 

The sexy, sexy man smirks at him, "I said, you must be Jongdae."

_Oh no no no noo he definitely caught me thirsting after him-_

_wait._

"How did you know my name?" Jongdae manages to ask even though he likes the way those pouty lips shape his name and how the smooth velvety voice caresses the syllables; since he needs to be level-headed as the older one.

"Your brother told me, like two hours ago. It's been a very slow day but he's been keeping me entertained." The man answers while trying to hold back a laugh.

A sense of dread seeps into Jongdae, urging him to sit down besides his brother and analyse the situation but his thought process gets interrupted by Nini's excited shrieking, "He's the brother who's in charge of the underworld, he's my favourite!!!"

Okay. _Okay_.

First things first.

"Nini. This is a café that only serves deserts, tea and coffee. How are you drunk?"

The man replies on Nini's behalf, "We _do_ serve tequila drowned cupcakes, and he's been eating them since he sat down. By the time I realised he's getting tipsy, I stopped serving them. But he was already drunk out of his mind, he is just good at hiding it."

Jongdae stares at Nini with disbelief, he knew Nini was a lightweight, but really? He got drunk on _tequila_ _cupcakes_? What the hell.

"Don't worry, I won't spill your secrets. I'm Minseok, by the way." The waiter- _Minseok-_ politely introduces himself.

Jongdae decides to laugh it off, "Don't mind Nini, he starts spewing nonsense once he's drunk. I mean, what kinda bs is he even talking about..."

His words die down at Minseok's glare, "Listen Jongdae, like I said, I will not spill your secrets, they are safe with me. There's no need for all that pretending, I know that it's real from some of my personal experiences as well. Besides, Jongin showed me some really solid things he couldn't have otherwise. And either way, I don't really care about all this stuff. It's not like it has any use for me, you know?"

Usually, when some mortal gets a whiff of them being important gods, their first reaction is fear. And if they're rotten, then they try to burgain something out of them, not really understanding how this works. But Minseok proves himself to be an exception.

AND Nini was comfortable enough to converse with him as if he was an old friend of theirs. While Nini is a very sweet and cuddly god, he's also extremely shy and cautious. If Nini trusts him, then Jongdae can, too.

Besides, beautiful, brave, thoughtful _and_ logical, that combo is rare even in heaven.

Maybe Nini isn't the only member of 'crushing on a mortal' club anymore.


	2. Got Married On A Snack Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It lives!

Jongdae has been trying to court Minseok for two months now, to no avail.  
  
The first time he took a courting gift (a beautiful jade dagger) to him, it did not go well. Not only did Minseok not accept his gift, he stubbornly insisted on paying for both of their meal at the ramen shop, saying how he was Jowgdae's hyung by two years based on life expectancy and current age ratio. Jongdae agreed to call him hyung, to see the pleased smile on Minseok's face again and again.  
  
The second time they went to the park, and Minseok rejected the gift (a gold and sapphire crown) again, but he agreed to let Jongdae pay for all the food from the carts.  
  
The third time they went to an amusement park, and Minseok accepted all the knick-knacks Jongdae bought for him, even though he didn't accept the courting gift (an ironwood can braided with diamonds).  
  
After countless of these dates and failed courting attempts later, Jongdae has finally brought Minseok to his home, giving him a tour, trying to impress him. Although currently, they're seated at the kitchen table, eating a quick meal of fruits, toast, jam and coffee since Minseok said he didn't have time to eat breakfast today. So far, Minseok has drunk two cups of coffee, now onto his third cup. He's been talking a mile a minute about different flavours of jam, apparently earth doesn't offer as many flavour as Jongdae's kitchen.  
  
Then he spots the small glass jar kept on the side of the table, "Ooh, what's this?"  
  
Jongdae passes the jar to him and explains, "Pomegranate purée, handmade by my mom. That's why it hasn't got a label."  
  
Minseok accepts the jar, pops off the lid and takes a big whiff, "That smells so good."  
  
Then Jongdae watches in abject horror as Minseok dips a spoon in the jar, and slathers the spoonful of said purée over his toast and proceeds to take a huge bite of it.

All of it happens in slow motion, Minseok chewing and moaning at the taste, taking a gulp of the coffee to help him swallow the dry chunk that is the toast and purée and Jongae fails to comprehend how can anyone like the taste of that gooey but somehow solid bitter paste and oh my god he ate the pomegranate seeds-  
  
"What did you do?!"  
  
Minseok doesn't seem to be detarred by his inhuman screech accompanied by a flash of thunder outside the kitchen window. Rather he glares at him with an unimpressed aura, "What?"  
  
"You ate the purée! It has pomegranate seeds in it! And the pomegranate was from my mom's garden!" The wind starts rattling on the window glasses at Jongdae's agitated emotions.  
  
"Cool!"  
  
"No, not 'cool', your soul is now bound to the underworld! you didn't even accept my courting, but you're fine with this?! We're basically in a cosmic marriage, do you even understand?!"  
  
Minseok scoots closer to Jongdae and holds his hands in his own, trying to calm him and the storm brewing outside, "Who said I didn't accept your courting? I said yes everytime you wanted to go on a date, remember?"  
  
Jongdae pouts at him, "But you reject all of my gifts, how is that accepting?"  
  
Minseok sighs exasparrately, "You bring me things that are super expensive, and it makes me uncomfortable. And I don't reject all of them! I accepted the ones you made me by yourself, and the trinkets you bought. I would have accepted your 'courting gift' too, if it was cheaper."  
  
"Even then, why did you eat the purée? We should have at least discussed it first."  
  
"I'm sorry Chennie, I didn't realize it was The Pomegranate from the myth, I didn't expected it to be kept so casually at a kitchen table." Minseok says sincerely, "If I knew, I wouldn't have eaten it. And you will have my full co-operation for a divorce or seperation- whatever you call it, if you'd rather not be tied to me."  
  
Jongdae sighs, "Hyung, I'm glad to be bound to you, I'm thrilled, actually. But what about you? Are you okay with this?"  
  
"Are you kidding? I have the cutest guy as my wife! And he literally climbs up the stairs of hell to go on dates with me!" Minseok kisses Jongdae's flushed cheeks, then everywhere on his face where he can put his lips on, "And you've got all these great food in your fridge, not to mention the sweetheart of a cat," Minseok gestures at the giant Enfield at the top of the kitchen counter, "of fucking course I want this. Although this is going a bit too fast, I'm sure we can work this out."  
  
Jongdae giggles under Minseok's kissy attack, "Well, I was going to court you first and then prepare a carriage for you to come to the underworld, but I guess this works too."  
  
Minseok leans back at that, "Wait, does this mean I can't return to earth anymore?"  
  
Jongdae makes an offended face at that, "Of course you can, what do you think this is? Some underground prison or something? We can move at our own pace, and you can move in whenever you want."  
  
Minseok narrows his eyes at Jongdae, "Why do I have to move, hmm?"  
  
"You're right! We should buy a bunch of houses on earth too, then we can stay half-a-year here, and half-a-year there! Hyung, you're a genius!"

Minseok laughs at Jongdae's enthusiasm, "Slow down there cutie, we have all the time in the world, no need to rush."

Jongdae smiles at Minseok, happy to know that that his affection is fully reciprocated, "Yes."

Jongdae feels warmth bubble up in his heart, looking at Minseok's smile. Even though he gets scolded after a couple of days for unintentionally brewing up a thunderstorm in the underworld.

It wasn't his fault. How was he supposed to control himself, when Minseok finally showed him just how sinful his lips could be? 


End file.
